Delphi Masterworks of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Illustrated)

By Peter Russell

The Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a monumental figure of the Romantic period, whose works are among the most popular music in the classical repertoire. Celebrated for his melodic ingenuity, impressive harmonies and colourful, picturesque orchestration, Tchaikovsky’s works evoke a profound emotional response. He was the first Russian composer to produce music that made a lasting impression internationally, leading the way for future generations of aspiring composers. Delphi’s Great Composers Series offers concise illustrated guides to the life and works of our greatest composers. Analysing the masterworks of each composer, these interactive eBooks include links to popular streaming services, allowing you to listen to the pieces of music you are reading about. Evaluating the masterworks of each composer, you will explore the development of their works, tracing how they changed the course of music history. Whether a classical novice or a cultivated connoisseur, this series offers an intriguing overview of the world’s most famous and iconic compositions. This volume presents Tchaikovsky’s masterworks in succinct detail, with informative introductions, accompanying illustrations and the usual Delphi bonus features. (Version 1)

* Concise and informative overview of Tchaikovsky’s masterworks
* Learn about the classical pieces that made Tchaikovsky a celebrated composer
* Links to popular streaming services (free and paid), allowing you to listen to the masterpieces you are reading about
* Features a special ‘Complete Compositions’ section, with an index of Tchaikovsky’s complete works and links to popular streaming services
* Also features two biographies - explore Tchaikovsky's intriguing musical and personal life
* Includes Tchaikovsky’s brother seminal biography, including the composer’s letters - spend hours exploring Tchaikovsky’s personal correspondence

Please visit www.delphiclassics.com to browse through our range of exciting eBooks

CONTENTS:

The Masterworks
Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op. 13
Six Romances, Op. 6
Romeo and Juliet, TH 42
String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11
Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op. 23
Swan Lake, Op. 20
The Seasons, Op. 37a
Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36
12 Morceaux, Op. 40
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24
Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Op. 41
Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35
1812 Overture, Op. 49
Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48
Manfred Symphony in B minor, Op. 58
Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64
The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66
The Nutcracker, Op. 71
Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74

Complete Compositions
Index of Tchaikovsky’s Compositions

The Biographies and Letters
The Life and Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky by Modeste Tchaikovsky
Brief Biography: Peter Ilich Tschaikovsky

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Delphi Classics Ltd
• Release date: Apr 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781786561237

Book preview

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

(1840-1893)

Contents

The Masterworks

Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op.13

Six Romances, Op.6

Romeo and Juliet, TH 42

String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op.11

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op.23

Swan Lake, Op.20

The Seasons, Op.37a

Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op.36

12 Morceaux, Op.40

Eugene Onegin, Op.24

Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Op.41

Violin Concerto in D Major, Op.35

1812 Overture, Op.49

Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op.48

Manfred Symphony in B minor, Op.58

Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op.64

The Sleeping Beauty, Op.66

The Nutcracker, Op.71

Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op.74

Complete Compositions

Index of Tchaikovsky’s Compositions

The Biographies and Letters

The Life and Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky by Modest Tchaikovsky

Brief Biography: Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky

The Delphi Classics Catalogue

© Delphi Classics 2018

Version 1

Delphi Great Composers

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

By Delphi Classics, 2018

COPYRIGHT

Delphi Great Composers - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by Delphi Classics.

© Delphi Classics, 2018.

All rights reserved.  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form other than that in which it is published.

ISBN: 978 1 78656 123 7

Delphi Classics

is an imprint of

Delphi Publishing Ltd

Hastings, East Sussex

United Kingdom

Contact: [e-mail]

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The Masterworks

Votkinsk, an industrial town in the Udmurt Republic, Russia — Tchaikovsky’s birthplace

The composer’s birthplace now functions as the Tchaikovsky Museum

Tchaikovsky as a young man, c. 1863

Statue of Tchaikovsky in his hometown

The Masterworks: A Short Guide

In this section of the eBook there are concise introductions for Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s most celebrated works. Interactive links to popular streaming services are provided at the beginning and end of each introduction, allowing you to listen to the music you are reading about. The text is also accompanied with contextual images to supplement your reading and listening.

There are various options for streaming music, with most paid services charged competitively at the same rate and usually offering a similar range of albums. Various streaming services offer a free trial (Google Play Music, Amazon Music Unlimited and Apple Music) and Spotify offers a free service after you watch a short advertisement. Amazon Prime members can also enjoy a wide range of free content from Amazon Prime Music. If you do not wish to subscribe to a streaming service, we have included YouTube links for free videos of the classical pieces.

Please note: different eReading devices serve hyperlinks in different ways, which means we cannot always link you directly to your chosen service. However, the links are intended to take you to the best option available for the piece of music you are reading about.

High-resolution scores for the music would be too large in size to include in an eBook; however, we have provided links to free scores available at IMSLP, the International Music Score Library Project, which can be accessed from the SCORES links in each chapter.

Now, settle back and relax as you immerse yourself in the music and life of Tchaikovsky...

Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op.13

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The great Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, a leading figure of the Romantic era, was born in Votkinsk, a small town in Vyatka Governorate in the Russian Empire. He came from a family with a long line of military service, as his father, Ilya Petrovich, had served as a lieutenant colonel and engineer in the Department of Mines and his grandfather served as city governor of Glazov in Vyatka. His great-grandfather was a Ukrainian Cossack named Fyodor Chaika (the name Tchaikovsky is the derivative of the Ukrainian family name ‘Chaika’ - ‘seagull’), who distinguished himself under Peter the Great at the Battle of Poltava in 1709. Tchaikovsky’s mother, Alexandra Andreyevna, was the second of Ilya’s three wives, eighteen years younger than her husband, and of French origin on her father’s side. Both of young Pyotr’s parents were trained in music, as a posting to a remote area of Russia often demanded entertainment, whether in private or at social gatherings. Tchaikovsky had six siblings and became closest to his sister Alexandra and twin brothers Anatoly and Modest.

Under his governess, he was a quick learner and by the age of six he had become fluent in French and German. He had begun piano lessons from the age of five and within three years he was as skilled at reading sheet music as his teacher. His parents, initially supportive of his musical endeavours, hired a tutor, bought an orchestrion (a barrel organ that could imitate elaborate orchestral effects) and encouraged his piano study. However, in 1850 they decided to send him to the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in Saint Petersburg, from which they had both graduated. This establishment principally served the lesser nobility and they hoped it would prepare their promising son for a career as a civil servant. The only musical careers available in Russia at that time, unless you were a member of the affluent aristocracy, were as a teacher in an academy or as an instrumentalist in one of the Imperial Theatres; these positions were regarded as on the lowest rank of the social ladder, with no more rights than afforded to peasants. The father’s income was growing increasingly uncertain, so Tchaikovsky, aged ten, was dispatched to two years boarding at the preparatory school, 800 miles from his family home.

This early separation from his mother caused an emotional trauma that would stay with him for the rest of his life and was intensified by her death from cholera in 1854, when he was fourteen. The loss of his mother also prompted Tchaikovsky to make his first serious attempt at composition, a waltz in her memory. Isolated, Tchaikovsky compensated for his loss through friendships with fellow students that became life-long, including with Aleksey Apukhtin and Vladimir Gerard. The school provided for students to regularly attend the opera and Tchaikovsky would improvise at the school’s harmonium on themes he and his friends had sung during choir practice. Meanwhile, he continued his piano studies under Franz Becker, an instrument manufacturer that made occasional visits to the school.

In 1855, Tchaikovsky’s father funded private lessons for his son with Rudolph Kündinger and questioned him about a musical career for his son. While impressed with the boy’s talent, Kündinger did not deem him talented enough to become a composer or even professional performer. Tchaikovsky was advised to finish his course and then try for a post in the Ministry of Justice. At the age of nineteen, he graduated as a titular counsellor, one of the lowest positions in the civil service. Appointed to the Ministry of Justice, he became a junior assistant within six months and a senior assistant two months after that; however, he was not destined to remain in the service for much longer...

During this time, the Russian Musical Society (RMS) was founded by the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna and her protégé, pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein. Although previous Tsars and aristocrats had focused almost exclusively on importing European talent, the aim of the RMS was to fulfil Alexander II’s wish to foster native talent. In 1861 Tchaikovsky attended RMS classes, a precursor to the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, in music theory taught by Nikolai Zaremba at the Mikhailovsky Palace. He studied harmony and counterpoint with Zaremba and instrumentation and composition with Rubinstein. This time spent at the Conservatory allowed the young pianist to develop into a musical professional, familiarising himself with European principles and musical forms that were not exclusively Russian or Western. This mindset became important in Tchaikovsky’s reconciliation of Russian and European influences in his compositional style.

When Tchaikovsky graduated in 1865, Rubinstein’s brother Nikolai offered him the post of Professor of Music Theory at the soon-to-open Moscow Conservatory. Though the salary was only fifty roubles a month, an offer of paid music work delighted Tchaikovsky and he accepted the post at once. He was further heartened by news of the first public performance of one of his works, his Characteristic Dances, conducted by Johann Strauss II at a concert in Pavlovsk Park on 11 September 1865.

Anton Rubinstein was impressed with Tchaikovsky’s burgeoning talent and later declared him to be a composer of genius in his autobiography. Nevertheless, Rubinstein was less pleased with the more progressive nature of Tchaikovsky’s student work. Subtitled Winter Daydreams and dedicated to Nikolai Rubinstein, Symphony No. 1 in G minor, Op.13 was composed just after Tchaikovsky accepted his professorship and it is generally regarded as his first notable work. Work on the score began in March 1866, as he wrote day and night, overstraining his mental and physical health. He suffered from insomnia, as well as pains in the head, which he feared were strokes and became convinced he would not live to finish the symphony. His brother Modest later claimed that the writing of the piece cost Tchaikovsky more labour and suffering than any of his other works. Even so, he remained fond of the symphony, writing to his patroness Nadezhda von Meck in 1883 that although it is in many ways very immature, yet fundamentally it has more substance and is better than any of my other more mature works.

In 1866 Rubinstein and Zaremba clashed with Tchaikovsky when he submitted his Symphony No. 1 for performance by the RMS in Saint Petersburg. The elder composers refused to consider the work unless substantial changes were made; although Tchaikovsky complied, they still refused to perform the symphony. Now judging himself to be a professional composer in his own right, Tchaikovsky was offended at being treated as though he was still a student and consequently withdrew the symphony. It was given its first complete performance, minus the changes Rubinstein and Zaremba had requested, in Moscow in February 1868, two years later.

His first symphony forced the young composer to re-evaluate his approach to music making. Before beginning the composition, he had been content to mould his music as best he could to the style of previous composers. Winter Dreams forced him to realise he would have to challenge conventions for him to grow and develop as a composer.  This included adapting sonata form and symphonic structure to accommodate the unique type of music he wanted to write. This is nowhere less evident than in the opening stretch of the first movement, displaying a new symphonic aptitude unprecedented in Russian music.

Scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, cymbals, bass drum and strings, the symphony is structured in four movements:

Dreams of a Winter Journey. Allegro Tranquillo (G minor)

Land of Desolation, Land of Mists. Adagio cantabile ma non tanto (E-flat major)

Scherzo. Allegro scherzando giocoso (C minor)

Finale. Andante lugubre (G Minor) - Allegro maestoso (G Major)

The opening movement is marked Allegro tranquillo and evokes a dream-like quality, with occasional strong sonorities in a lively manner. The second movement offers a mesmerising and melodic flow, suggesting tranquil wintry images of Russian snow outside and glowing logs in the fireplace inside. The movement has an essentially monothematic structure, based on subtle gradations and variations on a single melody. The endearing main theme, first heard on oboe, is one of the composer’s most attractive creations from his early works.

In the following Scherzo (a vigorous, light or playful movement), Tchaikovsky reprises material from the Scherzo of his Piano Sonata in C sharp minor, completed the year before. The mood is subdued, though it becomes cheerful in the buoyant trio. The finale summons wintry scenes with its glacial pacing and desolate writing in the opening. The Allegro section offers vigorous and colourful ideas as the energetic main theme and the orchestration throughout the movement is intricately arranged by the young composer. The first and last movements reveal the influence of the German tradition; in his later symphonies Tchaikovsky would effortlessly blend Western symphonic logic with a distinctively Russian subjectivity and gloom.

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The Tchaikovsky family in 1848. Left to right: Pyotr, Alexandra Andreyevna (mother), Alexandra (sister), Zinaida, Nikolai, Ippolit and Ilya Petrovich (father)

The first page of the score

The last page of the score

Tchaikovsky as a student at the Moscow Conservatory, 1863

Nikolai (left) and Anton Rubinstein

Portrait of Anton Rubinstein by Ilya Repin, 1887

Alexander II of Russia, c. 1878

Tchaikovsky at the time he wrote his first symphony

The Great Hall, the main performance auditorium, of the Moscow Conservatory

Inside the Moscow Conservatory

Six Romances, Op.6

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From 1867 to 1878, Tchaikovsky combined his professorial duties at the Moscow Conservatory with music criticism, while also continuing to compose his own music. This allowed him to travel abroad and to become familiar with a range of contemporary music. In his published critical reviews, Tchaikovsky praised Beethoven, judged Brahms overrated and, despite his admiration, censored Schumann’s poor orchestration. He lauded the staging of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen at its inaugural performance in Bayreuth, though he was critical of the music, labelling Das Rheingold: unlikely nonsense, through which, from time to time, sparkle unusually beautiful and astonishing details. A recurring theme that he addressed in his review writing was the poor state of Russian opera.

Tchaikovsky’s Six Romances, Op.6 were written in Moscow in November 1869. In a letter to his brother Modest, he expressed his dismay about the delay in the staging of his opera Undina, going on to remark: While my music is being held up, I’ve started to write some songs to earn a little money. By mid December, he wrote again: ‘My idleness did not last long and last week I wrote six romances, which are going to be printed. The Six Romances, Op.6 consists of the following six songs, with tempo indicated in Italian:

Do Not Believe, My Friend, Moderato assai (C-sharp minor)

Not a Word, O My Friend, Andante ma non troppo (E minor)

Bitterly and Sweetly, Allegro vivo (A major)

A Tear Trembles, Moderato assai (G-flat major)

Why? Moderato (D major)

None but the Lonely Heart, Andante non tanto (D-flat major)

Though no doubt a work of impressive youthful dexterity, Tchaikovsky later complained that Nos. 6 and 3 were the only romances to become popular. Today, None but the Lonely Heart (No. 6) is one of the composer’s most enduring early works, which was performed for the first time by Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya on 26 March 1870 in Moscow. The romances were first published by Pyotr Jurgenson that same month. They were frequently reprinted in their original keys, transpositions and arrangements. At the end of 1890, the Six Romances were published by Jurgenson in a collected edition of romances, reviewed by the composer himself.

None but the Lonely Heart was dedicated to Alina Khvostova (1846-1904), the Russian soprano and singing teacher. Her sister Anastasya Khvostova was a close friend of Tchaikovsky during his days at the Imperial School of Jurisprudence. The last romance in the collection is a melancholic piece of piano music, based on a setting of Lev Mei’s poem The Harpist’s Song, which in turn was translated from Goethe’s novel Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship.

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The first page of the score for ‘Six Romances’

The opening page of ‘None but the Lonely Heart’

Portrait of the Singer Elizaveta Lavrovskaya on Stage by Ivan Kramskoy, 1878

Anna Khvostova, to whom No. 6 was dedicated

Tchaikovsky close to this time

Romeo and Juliet, TH 42

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During the 1850’s Anton Rubinstein had succeeded in encouraging aristocrats to form the RMS, arranging for the great critic Vladimir Stasov and the pianist Mily Balakirev to agree upon a nationalist agenda for Russian music, taking the operas of Mikhail Glinka as a model. They argued for the incorporating of elements from folk music, rejecting traditional Western practices and employing exotic harmonic devices such as the whole tone and octatonic scales. They regarded Western-style conservatories as unnecessary and antipathetic to fostering Russian talent. In time, the leading figures of a new approach to Russian composing — Balakirev, César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin — became known as ‘The Five’. Rubinstein criticised their emphasis on amateur efforts in musical composition, while Balakirev and Mussorgsky attacked Rubinstein for his musical conservatism and his belief in professional music training. During this fervid time in Russian music theory, Tchaikovsky and his fellow conservatory students were caught in the middle of two very different ideologies.

Tchaikovsky was largely ambivalent of The Five’s music, though he remained on friendly terms with most of its members. He collaborated with Balakirev in 1869 on what became Tchaikovsky’s first recognised masterpiece, the fantasy-overture Romeo and Juliet, TH 42, which The Five unequivocally embraced. In spite of their support, Tchaikovsky made considerable efforts to maintain a musical independence from the group, as well as from the conservative faction at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.

Like his fellow composers Berlioz and Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky was deeply inspired by Shakespeare, also composing works based on The Tempest and Hamlet. When Tchaikovsky was having difficulties working on the opera Undine, which he eventually destroyed, Balakirev suggested he should write a piece based on Romeo and Juliet. Though he complained, I’m completely burned out, Balakirev persisted, writing suggestions for the structure of Romeo and Juliet, giving details of the type of music required in each section and even opinions on which keys to use.

Although named an ‘Overture-Fantasy’ by Tchaikovsky, the overall design is a symphonic poem in sonata form, with an introduction and an epilogue. The piece is based on three main strands of the Shakespeare story. The first strand, composed in F-sharp minor, following Balakirev’s suggestion, introduces the saintly Friar Laurence, while the lower strings give a hint of doom.  A single first inversion B minor chord is passed back and forth between strings and woodwinds, growing into the second strand in B minor. This becomes the agitated theme of the conflict between the Capulets and Montagues, including a reference to the sword fight, depicted by crashing cymbals, followed by rapid sixteenth notes. Then the action suddenly slows, as the key changes from B minor to D-flat and we hear the opening bars of the famous love theme, developing into the third strand.

Noted for its passionate and yearning character, this famous theme evokes an underlying current of anxiety. It signifies the first meeting between Romeo and Juliet and the scene at Juliet’s balcony. The English horn represents Romeo, while the flutes correspond to Juliet. After this, the conflict strand returns; this time with more intensity and build-up, as the Friar Laurence theme is reprised with agitation. The strings offer a sumptuous melody over which the flute and oboe eventually soar, returning to the love theme, though now much louder and in D major, signalling the development section and the lovers’ consummated marriage. The piece then changes to E major, followed by two large cymbal crashes, signalling the suicide of the lovers. A final battle theme is played, before a soft, slow dirge develops in B major, with timpani playing a repeated triplet pattern and tuba holding a B natural for 16 bars. The woodwinds present a sweet homage to the lovers, before a final allusion to the love theme brings in the climax.

Tchaikovsky dedicated the overture to Balakirev and it was first performed on 16 March 1870. However, it was spoiled by a sensational court case surrounding the conductor, Tchaikovsky’s friend Nikolai Rubinstein, and the expulsion of a student from the Conservatory. The renowned musician lost his appeal two days before the premiere, causing a strident demonstration in his favour when he appeared on the concert platform. This proved much more interesting to the audience than the new piece of music itself. Tchaikovsky complained, No one said a single word to me about the overture the whole evening. And yet I yearned so for appreciation and kindness.

Tchaikovsky reworked Romeo and Juliet twice, once in 1872 and again in 1880, and it was not until the third version was completed that it finally received the attention it so rightly deserves. Tchaikovsky rewrote the ending and added the subtitle Overture-Fantasia. It was completed by September 10, 1880, but did not receive its premiere until 1 May 1886, in Tbilisi, Georgia, then part of the Russian Empire, with Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov conducting. This third and final version is the one that is now in the repertoire, while the earlier versions are only performed occasionally as historical curiosities.

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The first page of the score

Mily Balakirev around the time he first met Tchaikovsky

Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov

Title page of the first edition of ‘Romeo and Juliet’

Tchaikovsky, aged 26, 1866

String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op.11

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In 1871 the Moscow Conservatory proposed a concert to Tchaikovsky composed entirely of his own works; he at once recognised how the event would bring him to the attention of the general musical public, at a time when even in Russia he was mostly unknown. He was still being paid a negligible professor’s salary and was eager to source more funds, as poverty made it impossible for him to engage an orchestra. Until this time, he was unable to pursue the composing of orchestral works, as the necessity for programmatic variety demanded more than piano solos or violin and piano sonatas. The approach was made by Tchaikovsky’s friend Ferdinand Laub, first violinist of the Russian Musical Society Quartet, who offered to play without a fee. Therefore, writing a quartet, in which his friend could figure prominently, for the concert became an obvious choice.

Composed in February 1871, String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op.11 was premiered in Moscow the next month by four members of the RMS: Ferdinand Laub and Ludvig Minkus on the violins; Pryanishnikov on the viola; and Wilhelm Fitzenhagen on the cello. The quartet has four movements:

Moderato e semplice (D major)

Andante cantabile (B-flat major)

Scherzo. Allegro non tanto e con fuoco – Trio (D minor)

Finale. Allegro giusto – Allegro vivace (D major)

The first theme of the quartet is noted for its syncopated striking rhythm, while the second theme, introduced by the viola, is rhythmically complex. As the movement draws to a close, the instruments gradually gain in tempo, providing an exciting flourish. Marked Andante Cantabile, the second movement is one of the most famous pieces that Tchaikovsky wrote for the chamber. The appealing melody from the midsection achieved instant fame and has become known through various transcriptions across the world. The author Leo Tolstoy was reputedly reduced to tears after hearing the movement. Inspired by a folksong Tchaikovsky heard from a carpenter, the melody opens quietly with muted strings. No attempt is made to develop the subject, before introducing the famous theme, taken up by the first violin, along with the cello’s pizzicato accompaniment. An upbeat scherzo forms the third movement, boasting a rhythmic drive with syncopation. The finale offers a simple, yet nimble theme of particular vigour, while the second theme is provided by the viola.

Although Tchaikovsky would go on to write two further string quartets, most music lovers agree that the String Quartet No. 1 is the most accomplished of the three, lauded for its melodic and emotive power.

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The opening page of the score

Ferdinand Laub (1832-1875) was a Czech violinist and composer.

Wilhelm Karl Friedrich Fitzenhagen (1848-1890), was a German cellist, composer and instructor, best known today as the dedicatee of Tchaikovsky’s ‘Variations on a Rococo Theme’.

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) in 1897

Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op.23

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The infrequency of Tchaikovsky’s musical successes, in spite of the tremendous effort they involved, gave the composer a lifelong sensitivity to criticism. Nevertheless, in time his popularity grew as several first-rate artists were willing to perform his compositions. The leading German conductor, virtuoso pianist and composer, Hans von Bülow, premiered the Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-Flat Minor, Op.23, as well as championing several other major pieces, both as pianist and conductor. Another factor that helped Tchaikovsky’s music become popular was a shift in attitude among Russian audiences. Although they had previously been satisfied with dynamic virtuoso performances of technically demanding but musically lightweight compositions, they now had a greater appreciation of the music itself. During the latter half of the 1870’s, Tchaikovsky’s works were performed with greater frequency, with fewer delays between their composition and first performances.

A landmark piece in the history of Romantic era music, Piano Concerto No. 1 was composed between November 1874 and February 1875. The first version received heavy criticism from Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky’s favoured pianist, who judged it to be bad, trivial and vulgar! In later years, Rubinstein repudiated his accusations, becoming a fervent champion of the work. It is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B-flat, two bassoons, four horns in F, two trumpets in F, three trombones, timpani, solo piano and strings, following the traditional form of three movements:

Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso – Allegro con spirito (B-flat minor – B-flat major)

Andantino semplice – Prestissimo — Tempo I (D-flat major)

Allegro con fuoco — Molto meno mosso — Allegro vivo (B-flat minor – B-flat major)

The first movement opens with an instantly recognisable theme in D-flat major, celebrated for its passionate and lyrical power. In spite of its well-known status, the theme is actually heard only three times, the last of which is preceded by a piano cadenza. The introduction’s theme is notable for its apparent formal independence from the rest of the movement and from the concerto as a whole, especially given its setting in D-flat major rather than the concerto’s nominal key of B-flat minor.  Critics have suggested that Alexander Borodin’s First Symphony may have given the composer the idea to write an introduction that links the work motivically.

The exposition proper then begins in the concerto’s tonic minor key, presenting a Ukrainian folk theme based on a melody that Tchaikovsky heard performed by blind beggar-musicians at a market in Kamenka. The second subject group consists of two alternating themes; the first is mournful and plaintive, featuring melodic contours from the introduction; the second is smoother and more consoling, played by the strings and set in the subtonic key (A-flat major) over a pedal point. A more turbulent reappearance of the woodwind theme is heard, this time re-enforced by driving piano arpeggios, gradually building to a tempestuous climax in C minor and a perfect cadence on the piano. After a short pause, a variation of the consoling theme closes the exposition in A-flat major.

The second movement opens with a brief pizzicato (a playing technique that involves the plucking of a string instrument) introduction, as the flute carries the first statement of the theme and the piano continues and modulates to F major. After a bridge section, two cellos return with the theme in D-flat major, supported by the oboe. The movement’s second section opens with a virtuosic piano introduction, before the piano assumes an accompanying role and the strings commence a new melody in D major. The oboe resumes the theme, this time resolving it to the tonic (D-flat major) and setting up a brief coda.

Marked Allegro con fuoco, the third movement provides a brief introduction in B-flat minor, noted for its fast and rhythmic character, as the melody is played by the piano, before the orchestra takes up a variation. The second theme, in D-flat major, is noted for its more lyrical quality, with the melody started by the violins. Then a set of descending scales lead to the development section. The recapitulation features the exposition’s first theme in the tonic key, although the orchestra variation is replaced by an extended climatic episode. A coda draws to an inevitable heroic conclusion.

Tchaikovsky revised the concerto three times, the last in 1888 — the version we know today. One of the most prominent differences between the original and final versions is that in the opening section, the octave chords played by the pianist, over which the orchestra plays the famous theme, were originally written as arpeggios.

It is not known why Tchaikovsky approached German pianist Hans von Bülow to premiere the work, although he had heard Bülow play in Moscow in 1874 and had been taken with his display of passion and intellect; in return, the pianist was a great admirer of Tchaikovsky’s work. Bülow was preparing to go on a tour of the United States, meaning that the concerto would be premiered half a world away from Moscow. Tchaikovsky’s confidence had been shaken by Rubinstein’s harsh criticism of the piece, so the thought of it being performed far from Russia, where he would not have to personally endure humiliation if it did not fare well, was most likely appealing. Tchaikovsky dedicated the work to Bülow, who declared the concerto to be original and noble.

The first performance took place on 25 October 1875 in Boston, conducted by Benjamin Johnson Lang; the concerto was so popular that Bülow was obliged to repeat the Finale, which Tchaikovsky found astonishing. Although the premiere was a success with the audience, many critics were not impressed. One wrote that it was hardly destined... to become classical. George Whitefield Chadwick, who was in the audience, recalled in a memoir years later: They had not rehearsed much and the trombones got in wrong in the ‘tutti’ in the middle of the first movement, whereupon Bülow sang out in a perfectly audible voice, ‘The brass may go to hell.’ Nonetheless, the work fared much better at its performance in New York on 22 November under Leopold Damrosch.

All three movements of the Piano Concerto No. 1 are sublimely romantic, an expansive, sweeping opening movement, soulful melodies with beautiful interplay between the soloist and orchestra in the second movement and a triumphant display of bravado in the final movement, offering an electrifying thrill from start to finish. Over eighty years after Tchaikovsky sketched out his initial ideas for the concerto, it in fact became the first piece of classical music to sell a million records in 1958, when the pianist Van Cliburn impressed the world with his impassioned recording of the iconic piece.

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The opening page of the score

Introduction’s theme, as played by the piano

Nikolai Rubinstein in 1872

The conductor Hans von Bülow

The concert hall in Boston where the concerto received its first performance

Swan Lake, Op.20

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The world’s most frequently performed ballet, Swan Lake, Op.20 was in fact an initial failure. The scenario was first arranged in two acts, fashioned from Russian folk tales, telling the story of Odette, a princess turned into a swan by an evil sorcerer’s curse. The choreographer of the original production was Julius Reisinger and the ballet was premiered by the Bolshoi Ballet on 4 March 1877 at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Although it is presented in many different versions, most ballet companies base their stagings both choreographically and musically on the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, first staged for the Imperial Ballet on 15 January 1895, at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg. For this revival, Tchaikovsky’s score was revised by the Saint Petersburg Imperial Theatre’s chief conductor and composer Riccardo Drigo.

The ballet tells the story of the doomed love of Prince Siegfried and Princess Odette. One evening Prince Siegfried goes out hunting and chases a group of swans. One of them transforms into a young woman, Odette, who explains that she and her companions were turned into swans by the evil Baron von Rothbart. The spell can only be broken if a man that has never previously loved swears an oath of undying love and promises to marry her. The Prince declares his love to Odette and promises to be loyal forever. Unwittingly, the Prince later mistakes the daughter of the evil von Rothbart, Odile, for Odette and promises to marry her. Siegfried follows the distraught Odette to the lake and begs her forgiveness. She forgives him, but as nothing can change the fact that he has broken his vow, they decide to die together and the lovers throw themselves into the lake.

Much uncertainty surrounds the original source of the Swan Lake story. Although the libretto is based on The Stolen Veil, a story by the German author Johann Karl August Musäus, it provides only the general outline of the ballet’s plot. A fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, The White and the Black Bride and a Russian folktale, The White Duck, also bear some resemblance to the ballet’s story. Tchaikovsky’s friends recalled him taking great interest in the life story of Bavarian King Ludwig II, whose tragic life had supposedly been marked by the sign of a Swan and was chosen as the prototype of the dreamer Prince Siegfried. However, the tragic death happened in 1886, ten years after the first performance in 1877. A better explanation is that Siegfried represents the romantic composer Tchaikovsky himself, struggling between duties and his longing for true love.

The Russian ballet patriarch Fyodor Lopukhov called Swan Lake a national ballet as he argues that the swans originate from Russian romantic sources, while many of the movements of the corps de ballet originated from Slavonic ring-dances. The names in the ballet are taken from several romantic icons: Siegfried the dragon slayer, Odette de Champdivers, Odile of Alsace and Emperor Friedrich Barbarossa.

Few records survive concerning the first production of the ballet, so there is much speculation as to who wrote the original libretto. The most authoritative theory appears to be that it was written by Vladimir Petrovich Begichev, director of the Moscow Imperial Theatres during the time that it was originally produced. According to Tchaikovsky’s nephew Yuri Lvovich Davydov and his niece Anna Meck-Davydova, the composer had previously created a minor ballet titled The Lake of the Swans at their home in 1871. This ballet included the famous Leitmotif known as the Song of the Swans.

Begichev commissioned Swan Lake in May 1875 for the modest fee of 800 roubles and soon the director began to choose artists that would participate. The choreographer assigned to the production was the Czech Julius Reisinger (1827–1892), who had been engaged as ballet master to the Ballet of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre since 1873. It is not known what collaborative processes occurred between Tchaikovsky and Reisinger. It appears that Tchaikovsky worked with only the most basic outline from Reisinger of the requirements for each dance.

Tchaikovsky drew on previous compositions for the score. He made use of material from The Voyevoda, an opera he had abandoned in 1868. The Grand adage from the second scene of Swan Lake was sourced from an aria in that opera, as was the Valse des fiancées from the third scene. Another number which included a theme from The Voyevoda was the Entr’acte of the fourth scene. By April 1876 the score was finished and rehearsals began. Tchaikovsky’s creative excitement with the project is revealed by how quickly he wrote the score; it was completed within a year.

The Russian ballerina Anna Sobeshchanskaya, for whom the original role of Odette was intended, was pulled from the première when a governing official in Moscow complained about her, stating that she had accepted several pieces of expensive jewellery from him, only to then marry a fellow danseur and sell the pieces for cash. Sobeshchanskaya was replaced by Pelageya Karpakova, who danced the rôle of the Swan Queen until the former was reinstated by Petipa. The première was not well-received, with near unanimous criticism concerning the dancers, orchestra and disappointing stage sets. Tchaikovsky’s masterful score was largely neglected in the debacle of the poor production, though a few critics recognised its virtues. Most critics, however, suggested it was far too complicated for ballet.

Regardless of the poor reaction to the première, the ballet continued to be performed. On 26 April 1877 the prima ballerina of the Moscow Imperial Bolshoi Theatre Anna Sobeshchanskaya made her début as Odette and from the start she was dissatisfied with the production, particularly Reisinger’s choreography and Tchaikovsky’s music.

Today, the ballet is adored by audiences across the world. From the graceful Waltz in Act I to the playful Dance of the Cygnets, the music is noted for its beautiful and haunting power. The dual role of the radiant White Swan and the devious Black Swan tests the full range of a ballerina’s powers, particularly in the two great pas de deux of Acts II and III.

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The first page of the manuscript

The first page of the score

Original sketch design for the ballet, 1877

Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow

Johann Karl August Musäus (1735-1787) was a popular German author and one of the first collectors of German folk stories, most celebrated for his ‘Volksmärchen der Deutschen’ (1782–86), a collection of German fairy tales retold as satires.

Pierina Legnani as ‘Odette’ in the 1895 revival of Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, first staged for the Imperial Ballet on 15 January 1895

Vladimir Begichev (1828-1891)

Adelaide Giuri as Odette and Mikhail Mordkin as Prince Siegfried in Aleksandr Gorsky’s staging of ‘Swan Lake’ for the Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, 1901.

The Seasons, Op.37a

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Tchaikovsky commenced work on The Seasons, a set of twelve short character pieces for solo piano, shortly after the premiere of his First Piano Concerto and he continued working on the project while completing Swan Lake. He had been commissioned in 1875 by Nikolay Matveyevich Bernard, the editor of the Saint Petersburg music magazine Nouvellist, to write the short piano pieces, one for each month of the year. Bernard even went so far as to provide a subtitle for each piece; Tchaikovsky accepted the commission and all of the subtitles. In the December 1875 edition of the magazine, readers were promised a new Tchaikovsky piece each month throughout 1876.

Tchaikovsky did not devote his most serious compositional efforts to these twelve pieces; they were composed to order and regarded as a means to supplementing his income. Most of the pieces were written in simple ABA form, though each contains a minor melodic masterpiece. The twelve pieces with their subtitles are:

January: At the Fireside (A major)

February: Carnival (D major)

March: Song of the Lark (G minor)

April: Snowdrop (B-flat major)

May: Starlit Nights (G major)

June: Barcarolle (G minor)

July: Song of the Reaper (E-flat major)

August: Harvest (B minor)

September: The Hunt (G major)

October: Autumn Song (D minor)

November: Troika (E major)

December: Christmas (A-flat major)

November’s Troika and June’s Barcarolle are the most often heard pieces from The Seasons. Several of the pieces reveal the influence of Robert Schumann, including the title of the first in the series, which had been used by Schumann in his Kinderszenen of 1838. Barcarolle is reminiscent of Felix Mendelssohn’s Venetian Gondola Songs from Songs without Words, but whereas Mendelssohn places a relatively simple single voice line over an undulating accompaniment, Tchaikovsky employs more emphasis on polyphonic thematic development over a contrapuntal accompaniment. In Troika, Tchaikovsky vividly recreates the sound of jingling sleigh-bells in the right hand, producing a particularly Russian impression. Troika is often considered the most challenging piece due to its rapidly moving melody, featuring several outbursts to forte, demanding a complicated technique with a variety of expressed feelings. The November piece owes a share of its fame today to Sergei Rachmaninoff’s interpretation, which has been adopted by Russian pianists as the standard model interpretation.

Although The Seasons enjoyed enormous popularity in the nineteenth century, they have been neglected in more recent years. A number of musicians have orchestrated Tchaikovsky’s pieces. Aleksandr Gauk arranged The Seasons for symphony orchestra in 1942, while in 2011 Sergei Abir created a new orchestra version. Morton Gould retained the piano part for many of the pieces and orchestrated the work throughout, recording it with himself at the piano in 1951 for American Columbia.

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The first page of the score

Schumann in 1839, age 29

Portrait of Mendelssohn by the English miniaturist James Warren Childe, 1839

Tchaikovsky, 1874

Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op.36

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Tchaikovsky lived as a bachelor for most of his life, though he had several short-lived attempts at marriage. In 1868 he met the Belgian soprano Désirée Artôt and they became infatuated with each other. They were engaged to be married, but due to Artôt’s refusal to give up the stage or settle in Russia, the relationship ended abruptly. Tchaikovsky later claimed she was the only woman he ever loved. In 1877, at the age of thirty-seven, the composer married a former student, Antonina Miliukova. The marriage was a disaster. The couple were psychologically and sexually mismatched and lived together for only two and a half months before Tchaikovsky left, overwrought and suffering from an acute writer’s block. Biographers now generally agree that Tchaikovsky was homosexual. He sought the company of other men in his circle for extended periods, associating openly and establishing professional connections with them. However, the degree to which the composer might have felt comfortable with his sexual nature has continued to fuse debate.

His family remained supportive of him during the crisis of his marriage and throughout his life, though he was also aided by Nadezhda von Meck, the widow of a railway magnate. Not long before his marriage, she had written to the composer, introducing herself as a fervent admirer; she commissioned several pieces for violin and piano to be played at her house and Tchaikovsky was quick to oblige. One of her first commissions was for a funeral march, which was never published and is now considered lost. As well as an important friend and emotional support, she became his patroness for the next thirteen years, allowing him to focus exclusively on composition. As their relationship developed, she subsequently provided him with an allowance of 6,000 roubles a year, large enough that he could leave his professorship at the Moscow Conservatory to focus on creative work full-time. They carried on an important correspondence, exchanging over 1,200 letters between 1877 and 1890. Von Meck had only one stipulation for her unique patronage: she and Tchaikovsky were to never meet. Yet in spite of this condition, he was more open to her about much of his life and his creative processes than to any other person.

Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op.36 was composed during the early days of Tchaikovsky and von Meck’s correspondence. He dedicated the work to her, expressed in the words: Dedicated to My Best Friend. Completed in the aftermath of his failed marriage, he claimed she would find in it an echo of your most intimate thoughts and emotions. In Russian society dedications of works to patrons were not deemed mere gestures of humble gratitude, but expressions of artistic partnership. By dedicating Symphony No. 4 to her, he was affirming von Meck as an equal partner in its creation.

Under von Meck’s guidance, Tchaikovsky wrote a program explaining the symphony. This encouraged numerous critics to quote from the text instead of focusing on the symphony’s musical qualities. The program hindered acceptance of the work for many years, prejudicing Alfred Einstein and other musicologists against the piece. Yet in spite of its negative impact on the symphony’s reception, the program does provide important details regarding its genesis. According to a letter the composer wrote to von Meck in 1878, the fanfare first heard at the opening represents Fate and the fatal power that prevents one from attaining the goal of happiness. In the program, the composer describes the first movement as: all life is an unbroken alternation of hard reality with swiftly passing dreams and visions of happiness... No haven exists ... Drift upon that sea until it engulfs and submerges you in its depths.

Scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, 4 horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, and strings, the symphony is arranged in four movements:

Andante sostenuto - Moderato con anima (F Minor) - Moderato assai, quasi Andante (B Major - F Major) - Allegro vivo (F Minor)

Andantino in modo di canzona (B-flat minor - F major - B-flat minor)

Scherzo: Pizzicato ostinato — Allegro (F major - Trio in A major)

Finale: Allegro con fuoco (F major)

In his first three symphonies the composer had struggled within the strict Western form. The turbulent changes in his personal life, including his marital crisis, led him to write music strongly personal and expressive, meaning that structural matters could no longer remain the same. Symphony No. 4 serves as a human document — dramatic, autobiographical, concerned not with everyday matters, but with psychological details. Tchaikovsky’s creative impulses had become unprecedentedly personal and were now capable of an expressive forcefulness, even violence. With emotional urgency, there also came an unprecedented flow of melody. Tchaikovsky developed his gift for tunefulness more freely, deploying melody more liberally than he had done previously.

The first performance of Symphony No. 4 was at a Russian Musical Society concert in Moscow on 22 February 22 1878, with Nikolai Rubinstein as conductor. The initial critical reaction was negative. Tchaikovsky was in Florence when it was premiered and received word only from von Meck at first. His closest friends were so unsure about parts of the work that they made no mention of it. A telegram from Rubinstein and the other musicians involved in the performances assured him only that the symphony had been well played. After a month, the composer wrote to Sergei Taneyev, who replied promptly and all too honestly. Taneyev had found the symphony excellent in parts, but less impressive overall. Although he admired the first movement, he also considered it too long. This, he thought, gave the work as a whole the feeling of a symphonic poem, with three additional movements attached, merely to justify it being called a symphony. Tchaikovsky replied defensively to Taneyev, but appreciated his openness.

Reaction to the premiere in the United States was also negative. In 1890 a reviewer for the New York Post wrote, The Fourth Tchaikovsky Symphony proved to be one of the most thoroughly Russian, i.e. semi-barbaric compositions ever heard in the city... If Tchaikovsky had called his symphony ‘A Sleigh Ride through Siberia’ no one would have found this title inappropriate. The British premiere was in June 1893, conducted by the composer, who was attending Cambridge University to receive an honorary doctorate. The hall was filled to capacity and the symphony received great applause after each movement.

In spite of unfavourable early reviews, the symphony has since become a staple of the orchestral repertoire, remaining one of the most frequently performed symphonies of the late nineteenth century and regarded as one of the composer’s finest works.

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The first page of the score

Tchaikovsky and Antonina on their honeymoon, 1877

Nadezhda Filaretovna von Meck (1831-1894) was a Russian business woman who became an influential patron of the arts, especially music. She is best known today for her artistic relationship with Tchaikovsky, supporting him financially for thirteen years, enabling him to devote himself full-time to composition.

Sergei Ivanovich Taneyev (1856-1915) was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and friend of Tchaikovsky.

12 Morceaux, Op.40

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Following the collapse of his marriage, Tchaikovsky remained abroad for a year, while he finished work on Eugene Onegin, orchestrated his Fourth Symphony and composed his Violin Concerto. He returned briefly to the Moscow Conservatory in the autumn of 1879, but for the next few years he was assured of a regular income from von Meck and so travelled extensively around Europe and rural Russia. In his travels he ventured mainly alone, avoiding social contact whenever possible. During this time, his foreign reputation grew and a positive reassessment of his music was taking place back home in Russia, thanks partly due to the novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s call for universal unity with the West at the unveiling of the Pushkin Monument in Moscow in 1880. Before Dostoyevsky’s speech, Tchaikovsky’s music had been considered too dependent on the West. As Dostoyevsky’s message spread throughout Russia, the negative approach to Tchaikovsky’s music diminished. An unprecedented acclaim for him even drew a cult following among the young intelligentsia of Saint Petersburg, including Alexandre Benois, Léon Bakst and Sergei Diaghilev. Meanwhile, still exploring Europe, Tchaikovsky was enjoying his most prolific and innovative period of music composition.

12 Morceaux, Op.40 (Twelve Pieces), subtitled of moderate difficulty were written between February and April 1878. In a contemporary letter to von Meck, Tchaikovsky explained, I have decided that each morning I shall write something new. Yesterday I wrote a romance, and today a piano piece, resulting in the composition of these twelve piano pieces. As he travelled from Florence to Clarens in Switzerland, Tchaikovsky continued work on the pieces. He next referred to the piece Rêverie interrompue (No. 12) in a letter dated late February. For its middle section he borrowed from a song that he heard through his window in Venice, sung by a street-singer. By late March he had already completed seven pieces, though now the Violin Concerto and the Grand Sonata in G major were demanding much of his time. The sketches for the pieces were completed at Kamenka in April.

By August, Tchaikovsky had sent the completed score to his publisher in Moscow, together with a number of other completed works. The proofs were corrected by Nikolay Kashkin, yet Tchaikovsky also reviewed them himself. 12 Morceaux was published by Pyotr Jurgenson in 1879 and the manuscript score containing all twelve pieces is now preserved in the Glinka National Museum Consortium of Musical Culture in Moscow.

The second piece in the series is the well-known Chanson triste in G minor, offering a haunting, highly expressive main theme, evocative of a sad Russian folk song, although no such source has been identified. The middle section of this piece is more tender and hymn-like, while the third evokes a lengthy funeral march, marked doloroso con molto sentimento.

Also notable is the fourth piece, written as a cheerful and elegant mazurka. The fifth piece is a second mazurka, continuing the jaunty mood, though its chordal middle section is more sober. The sixth piece is one of Tchaikovsky’s Songs without Words, featuring heavy Russian folk overtones with an intense mid-section. The seventh piece, Au village, is a dumka (a Slavic music style derived from the harmonic patterns in folk music), beginning as a hushed Russian soliloquy, before erupting into a flamboyant keyboard dance.

The tenth piece, a Danse russe, was originally intended as material for Swan Lake. Also a dumka, its lively theme is perhaps too merry to be regarded as a true example of this musical form, as the second section achieves a dash through Russian dance styles. The final piece, Rêverie interrompue (Interrupted Dream), is a reverie composed of slow arpeggios and marcato tune breaks. The appealing tune, supported by a strummed, guitar-like accompaniment, has ensured its popularity to this day.

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The opening of the first piece

Nadezhda von Meck, c. 1877

Modest Tchaikovsky (1850-1916) was a writer, dramatist, translator and younger brother of the composer.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky (1821-1881)

Tchaikovsky, c. 1878

Eugene Onegin, Op.24

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In May 1877, the opera singer Yelizaveta Lavrovskaya approached Tchaikovsky with the idea of creating an opera based on the plot of Alexander Pushkin’s verse novel Eugene Onegin. At first the idea appeared wild to the composer. His previous attempts at opera had resulted with lukewarm critical responses and the experience of writing operatic works had knocked his confidence. He was also concerned that the novel lacked enough plot to satisfy a full opera. The narrative concerns the titular dandy, who rejects Tatyana, a young country girl. Instead, he flirts with her sister Olga, outraging Lensky, Olga’s fiancé and Onegin’s only friend, who challenges him to a duel. Though the friends are reluctant to go ahead with the duel, they are compelled to follow it through. Onegin shoots Lensky dead and is forced to become an exile. He travels the world in an attempt to escape his guilt. Eventually, he returns to Russia and finds Tatyana has become the graceful wife of Prince Gremin. Overcome with his foolishness, he begs her to return his love. Though she still loves him, she refuses to break her vow to her husband.

The strength of the novel resided in its character development and social commentary, as well as in the beauty of its poetic merits. However, after a sleepless night, Tchaikovsky had come to like the idea. His excitement grew and he dashed off the scenarios in one night, before beginning work on the actual composition. With assistance from Konstantin Shilovsky, he extracted original verses from the novel, selecting scenes that involved the emotional world and fortunes of his heroes, calling the opera lyrical scenes. A noted feature of the opera’s form is its episodic nature, offering no continuous story, but highlights from Onegin’s life. Since the original story was so well known, Tchaikovsky felt his audience could easily fill in any details that he omitted, similar to Puccini’s treatment of La bohème. The opera was finished by January 1878.

The finished work lacks the traditional scene changes usually found in operas, as Tchaikovsky felt that its performance required maximum simplicity and sincerity. With this in mind, he entrusted the first production to the students of the Moscow Conservatory. The premiere took place on 29 March 1879 at the Maly Theatre, Moscow, conducted by Nikolai Rubinstein. The first performance outside Russia took place on 6 December 1888 in Prague, conducted by Tchaikovsky himself, although the rehearsals had been the responsibility of Adolf Čech. It was sung in Czech and translated by Marie Červinková-Riegrová. The first performance in Hamburg, on 19 January 1892, was conducted by Gustav Mahler, in the composer’s presence. Tchaikovsky was applauded after each scene and received curtain calls at the end. He attributed its success to Mahler, whom he described as not some average sort, but simply a genius burning with a desire to conduct. Overall though, the initial